Georgetown men’s lacrosse enjoying best start in 15 years

In the preseason, the Georgetown men’s lacrosse team took part in a scrimmage with Maryland, and after three quarters in which both sides played their starters, the Terps had a 9-8 lead before playing their reserves in the final period, according to Inside Lacrosse.

That score had no impact in the regular-season records for both teams, but for the Hoyas, keeping pace with the reigning national champion Terps was an encouraging sign.

“I think our mantra has just been not to really be scared of anybody,” senior midfielder Craig Berge said after Georgetown’s 12-10 upset of No. 19 Towson on Saturday afternoon at Johnny Unitas Stadium. “I think we worry about ourselves. Especially early in the year, you worry about yourself. You’re not worrying about Connor Kelly or the guys from Maryland. You’re worrying about your offense and the way you’re moving the ball and your defense and the way you’re sliding. So yeah, maybe a turning point for us to know that you can stand toe to toe with the best, but I think a lot of us had that confidence before that scrimmage anyway.”

The offense continues to be a work in progress for the Towson men’s lacrosse team. Now the defense can be added to the to-do list.

Tied at 9 after three quarters, the No. 19 Tigers wilted and dropped a 12-10 decision to visiting Georgetown before an announced 632 at Johnny Unitas Stadium on Saturday...

(Edward Lee)

That confidence is in full bloom for the Hoyas, who have opened a season with three consecutive wins for the first time since starting 8-0 in 2003. Victories against High Point and Robert Morris might have been expected, but defeating a Tigers squad that advanced to last year’s NCAA semifinals is a significant step for a program that went 2-12 in 2016 and 4-10 in 2017.

Coach Kevin Warne deflected any credit for the team’s strong start to the players.

“I’ve done nothing,” he said. “It’s all these guys. The last two years haven’t been up to Georgetown’s standards, and I know that, and I understand the responsibility of being the head coach here. I think when you have a group of seniors that decide that they want to make a change, good things happen. I think their leadership with the 13 guys that we have in that class, they’ve decided, ‘This is our legacy, this one year. So let’s see what we can do by doing the things we need to do, self-police one another, and just work our tails off basically.’ They’re great guys, they’re wonderful to be around and I’m excited to stay around them for the next month-and-a-half.”

Georgetown, which will host Mount St. Mary’s (1-3) on Tuesday at 3 p.m., still has to face Hofstra (0-2) and No. 10 Loyola Maryland (2-1) before diving into the Big East portion of its schedule. That might have something to do with junior attackman Daniel Bucaro pumping the brakes on getting carried away with the team’s start.

“There’s a lot of season left,” he said. “So we’re really just focusing on ourselves here. We’ve just got to work on the little things and get better each and every week. We’ve got a good brotherhood here. So we’ve got to keep it rolling.”